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Strategic Outsourcing
for Growth-Minded Businesses

A Guide to Outsourced Accounting and Finance

A Guide to Outsourced Accounting and Finance

Introduction

As a CFO or small to medium-sized, growth-oriented company business owner, you are probably dealing with some pretty big headaches in your accounting and finance operations. The marketplace for financial management is transforming faster than ever, creating both opportunities and challenges for businesses like yours.

A looming talent shortage in the accounting profession is the most significant challenge. According to the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, almost 75% of CPAs will be near retirement age this decade.
This, combined with a 7.4% drop in US accounting graduates, means a tight hiring market will only likely become more difficult.

The consequences of this talent shortage are significant:

  • Being Spread Too Thin: As the complexity and amount of your financial tasks increase, your existing team takes on a heavier burden, increasing the risk of errors and burnout.
  • Increase in Turnover: Retaining skilled employees becomes harder as they are in high demand and can secure better-paying opportunities elsewhere, or the effects of burnout push them to leave.
  • Escalating Costs: The competitive environment has driven up salaries and benefits for skilled finance professionals, putting financial pressure on your organization and potentially limiting investment in other areas.
  • Scalability Issues: Scaling operations can be challenging as your business expands and you’re trying to handle increasing volumes of work with fewer skilled people.

Strategic outsourcing can be the solution. By collaborating with outsourced experts, you can help relieve the pressure on your in-house team and allow them to focus on core activities.

In this guide, we’ll explore how partnering with the right outsourced finance and accounting team can help you manage costs, scale operations, and achieve financial goals.

In This Guide...

Introduction

Section I

1. Understanding ESG in the Cleantech Industry

2. The Financial and Business Opportunities

3. Tax Incentives, Loans, and Grants

4. Accounting and Financial Considerations When Adopting ESG Strategies

5. Navigating Evolving Accounting Standards

Section II

Conclusion

How Can Scrubbed Help

About the Author

1. Preparing for the Requirements

The Case for Outsourced Accounting and Finance

More and more businesses are recognizing the strategic value of outsourcing accounting and finance functions. It can provide benefits that will help you navigate the current talent shortage while also improving your firm’s operational efficiency and financial performance.

Advantages of Outsourcing Accounting and Finance

Access to Specialized Expertise

Outsourcing is the most efficient way to bring in qualified accounting and finance professionals with specific expertise and industry knowledge, which may be difficult to recruit or retain in a competitive job market. This is especially valuable for complex tasks such as financial analysis, tax planning, and compliance with evolving regulations or during periods when a company is navigating a financial turnaround, preparing for an IPO, or implementing new financial systems.

Cost Savings

For many small to medium-sized businesses, growing an in-house team with all the associated fixed costs and overheads is not always viable. Outsourcing can reduce overhead costs, such as salaries, benefits, training, and office space, or provide more flexibility to meet the affordability goals of different clients.

Enhanced Accuracy and Compliance

Professional outsourcing firms implement rigorous quality control measures and stay up-to-date with the latest accounting standards and regulations. This can lead to improved accuracy in financial reporting and better compliance with relevant laws and standards.

Focus on Core Business Activities

Outsourcing your routine financial tasks and day-to-day operations can free up your in-house team to focus on the strategic initiatives and core business activities that drive growth and innovation. 

Scalability and Flexibility

As your business grows, outsourcing allows your firm to adjust the service level based on your current needs. Fractional or outsourced accounting and finance professionals can also help you implement processes to ensure your financial systems and controls are robust enough to support and sustain your growth. Outsourcing is also a less risky option than hiring full-time employees when a company is growing quickly or trying to change direction. 

Access to Advanced Technology

 Along with talented audit, tax, and technical accounting professionals, outsourcing firms like Scrubbed will also include experts in the latest financial and accounting technology and tools, including AI-driven solutions. You get the advantage of cutting-edge technological know-how without the need for significant capital investment. 

Improved Financial Insights

Outsourcing firms often provide financial reports and analyses that can give you valuable insights or fresh perspectives on your company’s financial health. This can guide your firm’s decision-making and strategic planning.

When to Consider Outsourcing Your Accounting and Finance Functions

Determining the Right Time to Outsource

For CFOs and business owners, recognizing when to outsource your accounting and finance functions is critical. Assessing your current situation and identifying signs that your business could benefit from outsourcing will help you leverage outsourcing opportunities.

Signs Your Business is Ready for Outsourcing

Strategic Outsourcing for Growth-Minded Businesses

Difficulty in Hiring and Retaining Talent

If you have high turnover rates or find it difficult to fill positions, outsourcing can provide immediate, hassle-free access to the qualified professionals you need.

Strategic Outsourcing for Growth-Minded Businesses

Increasing Workload and Complexity

As your business grows, the volume of financial tasks and their increasing complexity can quickly overwhelm your internal team, leading to mistakes, missed deadlines, and burnout. Outsourcing helps you to right-size the workload for everyone and reduce the risks to accuracy and compliance that arise when people are spread too thin. 

Strategic Outsourcing for Growth-Minded Businesses

Need for Specialized Skills

Tasks like tax planning, financial analysis, and compliance management require specialized expertise. If you don’t have the relevant skills in house, outsourcing provides access to experienced professionals on a fractional basis.

Strategic Outsourcing for Growth-Minded Businesses

Rising Operational Costs

Maintaining an in-house finance team’s salaries, benefits, training, and office space costs can be expensive. With outsourcing, those fixed costs are converted into variable expenses, giving you more flexibility.

Strategic Outsourcing for Growth-Minded Businesses

Scalability Challenges

Businesses often need to scale quickly as they grow. Outsourcing allows the finance and accounting team to seamlessly expand or contract. 

Assessing Your Current Financial Processes

To ensure your company is prepared to shift towards outsourced or fractional accounting and finance, you’ll need to evaluate your existing processes to pinpoint the areas that could benefit the most from outsourcing. Consider the following steps:

1

Review Your Existing Processes

Take a look at your accounting and finance workflows to spot any inefficiencies, bottlenecks, or opportunities for improvement.

2

Identify Pain Point

Determine the common difficulties your team faces, such as high error rates, missed deadlines, or compliance issues.

3

Analyze Costs

 Compare the expenses associated with maintaining in-house functions versus outsourcing, including direct costs (salaries, benefits) and indirect costs (training, technology investments).

4

Establish Strategic Priorities

Identify which financial functions are critical to your business strategy and which can be outsourced without jeopardizing core operations.

Deciding Which Functions to Outsource

Outsourcing financial functions can be a strategic move that allows your business to concentrate on core activities while benefiting from specialized expertise. However, not all financial functions need to be outsourced. It’s important to determine which tasks can be effectively handled by an external provider and which should remain in-house. Common tasks that are often outsourced include:

Service Range and Flexibility

Does the provider offer fractional finance and accounting services in addition to full-service options? A fractional expert handles a specific role or task on a part-time basis, while full-service outsourcing provides you with a team that manages an entire function or department on an ongoing basis.
Can they scale their services to match your evolving needs?

Strategic Impact

Will this provider help boost your revenue? Look for a partner who will help you uncover new revenue opportunities and optimize your financial performance through strategic financial planning and analysis.
Can they provide market analysis and benchmarking to help you improve your competitive position in the market?
Do they offer strategic insights beyond basic accounting functions? Choosing a firm that can offer financial forecasting, growth strategies, or risk management will help your business make more informed decisions that drive sustainable success.

Long-Term Partnership Potential

Can you envision a long-term client relationship with the provider? An outsourcing firm that prioritizes consistent, high-quality support and acts as an extension of your team—rather than a simple task-based contractor—can respond quickly to unexpected challenges and help you spot more opportunities.
Do their values and culture align with those of your organization? Integrity, transparency, and accountability are critical for ethical business practices and continuous improvement.

Team Augmentation and Staffing Solutions

Will they effectively complement your existing team, collaborating with them to enhance overall productivity and efficiency?
Can they help you fill existing talent gaps and manage fluctuations in the workload?
What’s their approach to talent acquisition and retention? Do they invest in their staff development and their professional skills?

Accounts Payable and Receivable Management

How will they help you navigate busy seasons and unexpected challenges? You need a proactive and flexible partner who can help you maintain continuity.
What is their track record in handling complex financial situations?

Accounts Payable and Receivable Management

How will they help you navigate busy seasons and unexpected challenges? You need a proactive and flexible partner who can help you maintain continuity.
What is their track record in handling complex financial situations?

Onboarding and Integration

Can the provider provide a seamless system setup and onboarding process that causes minimal disruption to your operations?
What is their strategy for integrating their services with your existing processes?

Industry Expertise

Do they have experience in your industry and with similar-sized organizations?
Can they provide references or case studies demonstrating their success in your sector? Happy customers are often the best measure of how well the outsourcing firm delivers value and drives growth for its clients.

Why You Should Partner with Scrubbed

Scrubbed is a global professional services firm dedicated to empowering our clients with the critical insights and expertise they need to realize their goals, missions, and visions. Financial clarity is at the heart of what we do, providing concise, balanced advice to navigate challenges and complexity with ease.
At Scrubbed, we offer global expertise tailored to your unique needs. Our comprehensive solutions, from accounting to advisory, are designed to drive your success. Partner with us to unlock potential, transform challenges into opportunities, and pave the way for a prosperous future.

Global Expertise, Personalized Impact

With Scrubbed, our professionals become a valuable extension of your team, adding the right mix of talent and technology to help you meet your strategic objectives. We believe in creating value through genuine collaboration.
We take the time to get to know you—your history, business model, and goals. Through this understanding, we tailor our expertise to your needs and seamlessly complement the talent of your in-house staff.

Getting Started with Scrubbed

When you’re ready to outsource accounting and finance functions to a trusted third party, you’ll find that Scrubbed’s proven, structured approach is designed to ensure a successful outcome.

Assessing Your Services and Staffing Needs

We start by scheduling a discovery call to share more details about Scrubbed’s capabilities while you tell us more about your specific challenges. During this session, we agree on a timeline, proposed training schedule, and other logistics like file sharing.

Assembling the Right Team

We offer a wide range of resources with flexible arrangements, including hourly staffing, project-based staffing, or highly skilled, full-time employees. We always customize your Scrubbed team to project scope, complexity, and timeline.
If you’re contracting with Scrubbed to build out your in-house team, we’ll provide resumes of suitable candidates for your review. If your needs evolve during the project, Scrubbed can easily source additional talent.

Navigating Complexity, Creating Clarity

Scrubbed is fortunate to boast a low staff turnover rate. We also mitigate this risk by regularly sharing knowledge and expertise across teams to ensure project continuity. We also use a systematic training and knowledge-sharing process to ensure a smooth transition if one of your team members departs.
For projects that use Scrubbed’s hourly or project-based staff, it’s always our goal to provide a consistent, dedicated team for the duration of the engagement. If your firm engages with Scrubbed for additional projects, we will always attempt to assign the same team members if they’re available.

Onboarding with Us

When it’s time to onboard our Scrubbed team members to your account, we take our lead from you—ensuring that we emulate your processes and operate the same way.
We’ll always ask you to:
  • Provide any existing materials that make our team’s training and onboarding as effective as possible.
  • Discuss your operational expectations and requirements upfront.

Effective Collaboration

We thrive on collaboration, valuing genuine connections to offer customized support across various industries, including for-profit companies and nonprofits. Understanding your story is our priority, and we seek to ensure that our services align with your unique business model and aspirations.
Scrubbed is committed to making our partnership as easy as possible. You’ll find our team responsive and readily available to answer questions and discuss challenges. We’ll guide you towards more growth with honest and proactive service.
We typically send an update via email at the end of our business day to keep you fully informed of your account’s progress. And to ensure you only receive work of the highest quality, a Scrubbed manager oversees and reviews the team’s work before it’s submitted to you.

Get Started with Scrubbed Today!

With our deep expertise, collaborative approach, and commitment to excellence, we aim to be your partner for prosperity. Let us join your growth journey and help unlock the full potential of your business.
Schedule a meeting with Scrubbed to discuss your organization’s unique challenges.

Contact us at: [email protected] or 800-837-5160.